Breaking the Barriers (Mark 15:21–41)

Introduction

Attention

Today, we enter into a text of Scripture that’s at the very center of our faith. We are going to talk about the cross. Specifically, the barriers that the Lord faced, and how Jesus broke the barriers between God and us.

What is a barrier? A barrier is an obstacle that prevents movement or progress. It can be physical, like a wall, so I can’t move forward because of the physical barrier in my way. Or it can non-physical, like mental health, social, cultural, or language. All of these things can be barriers in our life that present challenges to us to move forward.

We all face barriers. One example is in employment. If you look for a job today, you’re going to face barriers. There are economic conditions, something out of your control. Do companies have available jobs? There are technological barriers. If you have been a retail store cashier all of your life, how are those jobs today? If you walk into a Walmart today, you know those jobs are becoming less and less. We now have self-checkout. We all scan our own things, and are all cashiers now. Then if you’re looking for work, there is experience, education, if you need child care, where you live, all kinds of these potential barriers that can get in the way.

Jesus faced barriers, too. We’re going to look today at how he faced those barriers, and how he broke barriers for us.

We are almost at the end of the Gospel of Mark. We started the Gospel of Mark on 1/15 of this year, and I’ve enjoyed preaching through this Gospel. Today, we are in Mark 15:21-41.

The Jewish leaders have brought Jesus to Pilate. Pilate offered to release Barabbas or Jesus to a crowd. The crowd shouted to Pilate to crucify Jesus. So Pilate handed Jesus off to be crucified. The Roman soldiers brought Jesus into the governor’s residence to be flogged. This is where they put a purple robe and a crown of thorns on him, and mock him. They take off the purple robe, put his clothes on him, and lead him out to be crucified. This is where we pick up in verse 21.

Scripture Reading

Mark 15:21–41 CSB

21 They forced a man coming in from the country, who was passing by, to carry Jesus’s cross. He was Simon of Cyrene, the father of Alexander and Rufus. 22 They brought Jesus to the place called Golgotha (which means Place of the Skull). 23 They tried to give him wine mixed with myrrh, but he did not take it. 24 Then they crucified him and divided his clothes, casting lots for them to decide what each would get. 25 Now it was nine in the morning when they crucified him. 26 The inscription of the charge written against him was: The King of the Jews. 27 They crucified two criminals with him, one on his right and one on his left. 29 Those who passed by were yelling insults at him, shaking their heads, and saying, “Ha! The one who would destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days, 30 save yourself by coming down from the cross!” 31 In the same way, the chief priests with the scribes were mocking him among themselves and saying, “He saved others, but he cannot save himself! 32 Let the Messiah, the King of Israel, come down now from the cross, so that we may see and believe.” Even those who were crucified with him taunted him. 33 When it was noon, darkness came over the whole land until three in the afternoon. 34 And at three Jesus cried out with a loud voice, “Eloi, Eloi, lemá sabachtháni?” which is translated, “My God, my God, why have you abandoned me?” 35 When some of those standing there heard this, they said, “See, he’s calling for Elijah.” 36 Someone ran and filled a sponge with sour wine, fixed it on a stick, offered him a drink, and said, “Let’s see if Elijah comes to take him down.” 37 Jesus let out a loud cry and breathed his last. 38 Then the curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. 39 When the centurion, who was standing opposite him, saw the way he breathed his last, he said, “Truly this man was the Son of God!” 40 There were also women watching from a distance. Among them were Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James the younger and of Joses, and Salome. 41 In Galilee these women followed him and took care of him. Many other women had come up with him to Jerusalem.

Pray

As I was preparing this sermon, the weight of this was too heavy. Jesus, the Son of God on the cross, his death and resurrection is the very center of our faith.

I actually stood here on this stage, read through the text out loud to prepare, and was just silent before God. I don’t usually read through the Bible, and after studying it, get up to speak and have nothing to say. But this… this is powerful.

I sat down at the piano back here, and our brother in the worship team left some of his music sheets on there. The first song that he left was, “At the Cross (Love Ran Red).” Some of the lyrics go:

There’s a place where sin and shame are powerless

Where my heart has peace with God and forgiveness

Where all the love I’ve ever found

Comes like a flood, comes flowing down

At the cross, at the cross, I surrender my life

I’m in awe of You, I’m in awe of You

That’s where I am in this text. I am in awe of him.

As we always do, men put up barriers against God. We have so many barriers. Jesus had barriers that he faced. I’m going to cover four barriers that he faced in Mark 15:21-41. First, Jesus faced:

1. The Barrier of Physical Weakness (Mark 15:21)

The Son of God was also the Son of Man. Although he was God in the flesh, he was in the flesh, and he experienced the weakness of a human body.

Jesus experienced being physically tired. In John 4:6 it says that “Jesus, worn out from his journey, sat down at (a) well” where he met the Samaritan woman. We know that he needed sleep, as we see him in Mark 4:38 during a storm asleep in a boat. We know he felt physical hunger, as it says in Matthew 4:2 that after fasting for forty days and nights, in the most understated way, “he was hungry.” We know he felt emotions, especially sorrow, and grief, as he wept at the tomb of Lazarus in John 11:35, and then at the Garden of Gethsemane, Jesus says in Matthew 26:38, “I am deeply grieved to the point of death.”

So there is no doubt that Jesus felt ever whip from the Romans on his body. The strands of the metal whip had these small metal balls and bones to rip flesh, and every time his it ripped his flesh, Jesus felt that throughout his entire body.

We know that because at the time we get to verse 21, Jesus is physically exhausted. It says in Mark 15:21:

Mark 15:21 CSB

21 They forced a man coming in from the country, who was passing by, to carry Jesus’s cross. He was Simon of Cyrene, the father of Alexander and Rufus.

It was customary for the Romans to make a condemned man carry the crossbeam of his cross. A crossbeam could weigh about 100 pounds. The Romans would make the condemned carry this through the city streets to the place of crucifixion.

We know that Jesus started to carry his cross. We see that in John 19:17. At some point, the Romans pick a random man from the crowd. What’s interesting is that, by the time Mark writes his Gospel, the disciples know who this man is. Mark gives his name, Simon, a man from Cyrene, which was a coastal city of North Africa which had a large Jewish colony (Acts 2:10).

There is so much being pictured here. We are reminded that as Christians, we’re called to be like our Lord, we are called to be people who carry our cross. A disciple follows the Lord’s perfect example.

2. The Barrier of Human Emotions (Mark 15:31)

Not only did Jesus face a barrier of human physical weakness, he faced the barrier of human emotions.

All throughout His crucifixion, Jesus is enduring mocking and insults. It’s coming from everyone. The chief priests, teachers of the law, the Roman soldiers, people nearby, and even those crucified with Him ridiculed Him. They told him to save himself and come down!

There’s an interesting irony in Mark 15:31:

Mark 15:31 CSB

31 In the same way, the chief priests with the scribes were mocking him among themselves and saying, “He saved others, but he cannot save himself!

To them, Jesus seemed powerless to save, and in that sentence they missed the entire point of what he was doing. One commentator said, “If Jesus was to save others, delivering them from the power of sin, then He could not save (rescue) Himself from the sufferings and death appointed to Him by God.” (1) Jesus showed his power to save others by not saving himself.

The world continues to hurl mocking and insults at the Lord. We see insults against him in media and entertainment, where the Lord is used as a punchline. We see insults against him from academia, where people filled with pride in their own opinions insult him. We see insults against him in personal conversations, as people use his name as a curse word.

Mocking and insults create all kinds of hurt, emotional pain, and frustration. Jesus faced the barriers of human emotion.

3. The Barrier of Abandonment and Isolation (Mark 15:33–34)

Jesus also faced the barrier of abandonment and isolation. We see that in Mark 15:33-34:

Mark 15:33–34 CSB

33 When it was noon, darkness came over the whole land until three in the afternoon. 34 And at three Jesus cried out with a loud voice, “Eloi, Eloi, lemá sabachtháni?” which is translated, “My God, my God, why have you abandoned me?”

We see in this moment the universe reacts to the Son of God on the cross as a sign from heaven. What’s interesting is that, at about this time, priests would have been involved in the afternoon sacrifice, especially during this time of Passover. The daily ritual included the sacrifice of a lamb, just as the Lamb of God hung on the cross taking on the sins of the world.

Jesus cried out in a loud voice in Mark 15:34, “Eloi, Eloi, lemá sabachtháni?” which is translated, “My God, my God, why have you abandoned me?””

The greatest challenge to the Lord was that he would take on the sin of the world, and by taking on this sin, he faced his greatest suffering. There was a moment perhaps within God where the Father had to look away from the Son, as it is written in Hab. 1:13:

Habakkuk 1:13 CSB

13 Your eyes are too pure to look on evil, and you cannot tolerate wrongdoing. So why do you tolerate those who are treacherous? Why are you silent while one who is wicked swallows up one who is more righteous than himself?

Thus the agony from the Son as the Father’s abandons him for the sacrifice.

But there’s another way to see this, which is why this saying from Jesus is so difficult. Jesus is not saying a random statement. Rather, he is quoting from Psalm 22:1

Psalm 22:1 CSB

1 My God, my God, why have you abandoned me? Why are you so far from my deliverance and from my words of groaning?

Psalm 22 is a Messianic psalm, a psalm telling Israel about the Messiah. Jesus saying this in a loud voice may be a statement to Israel telling them that he is fulfilling the work of the Messiah as stated in Psalm 22.

What does it say in this psalm? Psalm 22:6-8:

Psalm 22:6–8 CSB

6 But I am a worm and not a man, scorned by mankind and despised by people. 7 Everyone who sees me mocks me; they sneer and shake their heads: 8 “He relies on the Lord; let him save him; let the Lord rescue him, since he takes pleasure in him.”

Does that sound familiar? It’s what happened at the cross. Or a little further in Psalm 22:14-18:

Psalm 22:14–18 CSB

14 I am poured out like water, and all my bones are disjointed; my heart is like wax, melting within me. 15 My strength is dried up like baked clay; my tongue sticks to the roof of my mouth. You put me into the dust of death. 16 For dogs have surrounded me; a gang of evildoers has closed in on me; they pierced my hands and my feet. 17 I can count all my bones; people look and stare at me. 18 They divided my garments among themselves, and they cast lots for my clothing.

This Psalm speaks of the coming Messiah, someone who will be mocked, despised, someone who’s strength is exhausted at death, who is someone people are looking and staring at in his death, someone who’s hands and feet are pierced, who’s garments are divided up and people cast lots for.

This is an incredible prophecy of the exact details of the cross, hundreds of years before it happens. Jesus says, Israel, world, pay attention to who I am.

This psalm prophesies about the real abandonment and isolation experienced by the Son of God on the cross.

4. The Barrier of Death (Mark 15:37)

Last, Jesus faced the barrier of death. Death is something that we all face, but Jesus faced death in a most excruciating way. Mark 15:37 is interesting. It says,

Mark 15:37 CSB

37 Jesus let out a loud cry and breathed his last.

If you know something about crucifixion, the Romans were skillful at making death long and painful. The Romans were skillful at scaring people to death, and they devised one of the most excruciating methods of execution ever developed.

If you faced a crucifixion, you died of a combination of blood loss, shock, dehydration, and respiratory failure. They would leave you up on a cross, and slowly it would become more and more difficult to lift yourself up. Eventually, you would die of suffocation, because you were too weak to breathe.

Crucifixion was a public humiliation. They would put crucified people up in public spaces, along major roads, so everyone would see you. The Romans would put a sign above your head so everyone would know your crime. The dead bodies were often left up as a warning to others.

Many people, as they hung up on the cross, would be up there for two or three days, and lapse into a coma before dying. But look at Mark 15:37, “Jesus let out a loud cry and breathed his last.” Jesus is conscious to the end.

He makes a decision. He voluntarily surrenders his life. He lets out a loud cry and voluntarily gives up his last breath.

When the Romans checked, they were shocked to find out that Jesus was already dead. In Mark 15:44, it says,

Mark 15:44 CSB

44 Pilate was surprised that he was already dead. Summoning the centurion, he asked him whether he had already died.

He was shocked because people didn’t normally die that quickly on the cross. No one took Jesus’ life from him. The Jews didn’t take his life from him. The Romans didn’t take his life from him. Jesus voluntarily gave up his life. He did that for you, because he died for the sins of the world.

You think of the four barriers that Jesus faced:

The barrier of physical weakness (Mark 15:21)

The barrier of human emotions (Mark 15:31)

The barrier of abandonment and loneliness (Mark 15:34)

The barrier of death (Mark 15:37)

Jesus broke all of those barriers down in one moment on the cross. I want to point you to that moment on the cross. I’m going to talk about barriers in two ways.

First,

Jesus broke the barriers between God and us on the cross.

I want you to see this moment when Jesus broke the barriers between God and us on the cross. Take a look at Mark 15:38:

Mark 15:38 CSB

38 Then the curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom.

Now, you might just read past that verse, but it’s intentionally put between verse 37, where Jesus breathed his last, and verse 39, with the response from the centurion that Jesus was truly the Son of God.

What is going on here with the Temple? The Temple in Jerusalem had been set up in such a way that there was a barrier between God and man.

This Temple curtain, this barrier, was huge. Some say it was 60 feet high, some other sources say 80 feet high. That’s about the size of a five or six story building. Some say the curtain was 30 feet wide, another 36 feet wide. It was anywhere between one inch and four inches thick. This curtain was big. One commentator said it took 300 priests to put it up. I don’t know if it took that many, but I know it took a lot to put this up.

What was this huge curtain separating? In the Temple, there was a place called the Holy Place, and another place called the Most Holy Place, or the Holy of Holies. No one was allowed to go back there to the Holy of Holies. Only the chief priest could go back there, and he was only allowed to be back there once a year.

The curtain was huge, and it was beautiful. In Exodus 26:31 they were told “to make a curtain of blue, purple, and scarlet yarn, and finely spun linen with a design of cherubim worked into it.” For the Jews, these colors had meaning. The blue was representative of heaven or the divine, purple representing royalty, and scarlet representing sacrifice and atonement.

The curtain was beautifully intricate. It had weavings into it, with woven in pictures of cherubim. This huge curtain was kind of this panorama of beauty that stood between God and man. All of their lives, the Jews lived with this reminder that there was a barrier, a separation that the common could not cross. They lived with this barrier between them and God.

Jesus said in John 2:19,

John 2:19 CSB

19 Jesus answered, “Destroy this temple, and I will raise it up in three days.”

Now the Temple that Jesus spoke about was his body. John says that two verse later, in John 2:21. But think of that. Jesus is his body is the true Temple, the Temple of God in Jesus Christ that we are all a part of, our Lord being the chief cornerstone. Jesus is the new covenant, a new connection, where there is no barrier.

Look back at Mark 15:38, and notice that “the curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom.” The curtain was not torn from the bottom up. If it were men, men would have to start from the bottom and try to tear all the way up.

No, the Temple curtain was torn from top to bottom! Man could not break that barrier. Man has tried. Only God could break that barrier, and he broke it from the top down. God came down to us in human flesh, and broke the barrier between us from the top down, so that we could enter into the Holy of Holies and have peace with him. Amen!

There’s a famous illustration that Christians have used to try to describe the barrier between God and man.

Imagine this is a big chasm. I can imagine it quite well, as I think of the Grand Canyon. But this chasm is greater, is bigger than the Grand Canyon. There is no possible way to get from one side of the chasm to the other side.

You try. Maybe you walk for miles and miles to try and find a way across, but there isn’t one. Maybe you start trying to build a bridge. But all of your efforts fail. The chasm is just too deep. It’s endless, and there is no way across.

You need to get across because on the other side is life. On this side is only death, but on that side is life. You’ve got all of these smart, genius people on your side, but despite everyone’s best efforts, you just can’t do it.

But on the other side, there is a man who can. Only he can bridge the gap. He does. He provides a bridge, a cross.

That’s us on that one side. There’s something about the human condition. No matter how good, you find the most goody goody person you know, and you ask that person, “Are you perfect?” They’ll say, “No.” Everyone internally knows that something is missing. Something is wrong. There is a barrier.

We need someone who can break the barrier. We can’t break it from the bottom up. God has to break it from the top down. And he has done that for you in Jesus. Jesus broke the barriers between God and us on the cross.

Jesus broke the barriers between God and us on the cross.

So this last point,

Jesus shows us that a crucified life of faith in him breaks barriers down.

You think of the centurion in Mark 15:39:

Mark 15:39 CSB

39 When the centurion, who was standing opposite him, saw the way he breathed his last, he said, “Truly this man was the Son of God!”

What is a centurion? A centurion is a Roman army commander who was in charge of 100 men. This Roman centurion was probably the one in charge of the execution squad.

When you read about this centurion, he is standing opposite of Jesus, and he sees that way Jesus breathes his last and says, “This man was the Son of God.” He saw everything happening around Jesus and said, this man is something different.

I’m sure this man saw plenty of people crucified. He is likely the guy in charge of this death squad. He has seen plenty of crucifixions. He’s probably driven the nails in men himself. He has seen death over and over and over. He has commanded nails driven into wrists and feet. There’s nothing sensitive or weak about this man. And here he is, confronted with Jesus.

We don’t know much about this man. But we do know is that, after being confronted with Jesus, barriers were broken. This is a Roman commander. He is a Gentile. He’s not interested in Judaism. And there is no Christianity at the moment, that’s not a thing yet.

But he says, “Surely, this man is something special. There is something different, something awe-inspiring about him.”

This is what happens when you are confronted with Jesus. You either turn your back on him, mocking and insulting him, or you come to a saving faith in him. Everyone is confronted with Jesus, and everyone must come to a place in their heart of accepting or rejecting him. Either mock him or call him Lord.

There is evidence. There is 2,000 years of evidence of lives changed, turned around and renewed by the transforming power of Jesus Christ.

There is evidence that faith in Jesus changes lives. There is evidence because once I was lost, but now I’m found; once I was blind, but now I see. There is an old life that I could tell you about, but I don’t want to. There is a new life in Jesus Christ that I can’t wait to tell you about.

This new life, it’s a crucified life. My old life is on the cross with Jesus, and in exchange he’s given me his new life. In 1 Peter 2:24,

1 Peter 2:24 CSB

24 He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree; so that, having died to sins, we might live for righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed.

You have been healed! That healing looks different. That healing is transforming. That healing is going to cause you to live sacrificially. You look at the sacrificial love of Jesus, and you want to have a sacrificial love for others because of what he has done in you. Because of who Jesus is, you love your wife in a brand new way. Because of who Jesus is, you love your husband in a brand new way. Because of Jesus, I love my family, my kids, my co-workers, my church in a brand new way. Because of who Jesus is.

Jesus makes all things new. In Galatians 5:24,

Galatians 5:24 CSB

24 Now those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.

Why have I crucified the flesh with its passions and desires? Because I know where my passions and desires get me. My passions and desires, they deceive me. They lie to me. My passions and desires tell me one thing, but when I turn around, it’s completely different. My passions and desires take me down a road that destroys my family, destroys my home, destroys my life and everyone I love.

So I take that hammer, and I hold that nail in my hand, I take my passions and desires, and I hammer them to the cross. He’s paid for those passions and desires.

And, you know what? He’s given me a new passion. There is a new passion that burns in my heart.

I don’t know what you’ve been through, but I know that one who can change you. He’s the only one that can break that barrier and set you free. Are you tired of living in chains to sin? God is calling you to a life in Jesus, a life that crucifies those passions and desires. A life that lives for him.

One night, in 1989, I was watching a moment in history where thousands of people were gathered around a wall. It was the Berlin Wall in Germany, that for decades separated East and West Berlin. In one night, that wall came down. Thousands of people cheered and celebrated as a wall came crumbling down.

As I think of this, I remember that two thousand years ago, the barrier that separated us from God came down. Jesus broke down the barrier between God and us on the cross. You can have a new life, a life with a new passion, a new life of hope, a new life of deliverance, a new life of restoration and peace in Jesus. Let Jesus break down the barriers in your heart, and live for him today.

Conclusion

Jesus broke the barriers between God and us on the cross.

Jesus shows us that a crucified life of faith in him breaks barriers down.

Conclude

Prayer

Last Song

Doxology

Numbers 6:24–26 CSB

24 “May the Lord bless you and protect you; 25 may the Lord make his face shine on you and be gracious to you; 26 may the Lord look with favor on you and give you peace.” ’

Jude 24–25 CSB

24 Now to him who is able to protect you from stumbling and to make you stand in the presence of his glory, without blemish and with great joy, 25 to the only God our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, power, and authority before all time, now and forever. Amen.

You are dismissed. Have a great week in the Lord!

Grassmick, John D. “Mark.” In The Bible Knowledge Commentary: An Exposition of the Scriptures, edited by J. F. Walvoord and R. B. Zuck. Wheaton, IL: Victor Books, 1985.